One of the least original things to say must be to comment on how ridiculous it is that in a country which experiences winter every year, and has done for as long as anyone can remember, our services just can’t cope. The only thing more predictable than the fact that it will get cold at some point every year, is the fact that someone will complain about how everyone seems surprised.

But just because it is a cliche that doesn’t make it any less true!

Yesterday I woke to find that there had been nearly a whole inch of snow. My train to London took two hours instead of less than one hour, and our girls’ school was closed because so many staff couldn’t get in to work.

I was already wound up by this, and then then our glorious railway industry managed to irritate me further with their announcements:

This train will be held at this station. We are not sure how long the delay will be. Obviously this is because of the adverse weather conditions.

I am still not sure which word it was that annoyed me the most, “adverse” or “obviously”. I keep meaning to look through the 4 or 5 dictionaries on my desk to see if any of them has “adverse” defined as “perfectly normal for the time of year – in fact quite mild really”.

Given that we only had ONE BLOODY INCH of snow I was totally gobsmacked by a Network rail spokesman who was quoted today, talking about “extreme” weather conditions.

There isn’t really any point in expanding on this rant – everyone else seems to be thinking and saying the same thing. Unless they work in the Network Rail press office.